In the time when human rights are violated on a regular basis, violence triumphs, and feeble democracies ever more often back down before authoritarian rule, there obviously arises the need to reflect on the possible ways of counteracting such phenomena. Our interdisciplinary conference is intended as a fitting opportunity for this reflection. We would like to look at various manifestations of violence and human rights violation, whether historical or current. We will describe them in political, social, psychological, cultural and many other terms. We also want to devote considerable attention to how the situation of human rights is represented in artistic practices: in literature, film, theatre or visual arts.

Different forms of presentations are encouraged, including case studies, theoretical investigations, problem-oriented arguments, and comparative analyses.

We will be happy to hear from both experienced scholars and young academics at the start of their careers, as well as doctoral students. We also invite all persons interested in participating in the conference as listeners, without giving a presentation.

We hope that due to its interdisciplinary nature, the conference will bring many interesting observations on and discussions about the role of human rights in the past and in the present-day world.

Our repertoire of suggested topics includes but is not restricted to:

I. Societies

- Genocides

- Slavery

- Nationalism

- Chauvinism

- Xenophobia

- Ethnic cleansings

- Religious dictatorships

- The Holocaust

- Apartheid

- (Neo)Nazism

II. Individuals

- Domestic violence

- Mobbing

- Bullying in school

- Bullying in the army

- Sexual abuse

- Sado-masochism

- Symbolic violence

- Economic discrimination

- Ageism

III. Defense of Human Rights

- Human rights organizaions

- Humanitarian missions

- Resistance movement

- The ethos of a freedom fighter

- Conspiracies, protests, revolts

- Racial equality

- Performative race

- Women's rights

- Sexual minority rights

- Disability rights

- Human rights and animal rights

IV. Fallen Dictatorships

- Democracy in transition

- Post-communist countries

- Amnesties

- The revenge of the oppressed

- Criminal courts / courts of justice

- Escape from freedom

- Nostalgia for the regime

- Dictator's psychological portrait

V. Violence and Subjectivity

- Politics of trauma

- Fear, despair and utopia

- Violence and language

- Dictatorship as a social symptom

- Dictatorship, remembrance and forgetfulness

V. Violence in the (Post)Modern World

- Cultural conditioning of violence

- Dictatorship of the young

- Dictatorship of the old

- Dictatorship and conformism

- The regime of political correctness

- Democracy and the dictatorship of the majority

- Democracy and liberalism

- Human rights and the free market

- Violence in the media

VI. Literature and the Arts

- Literature and art about human rights violation

- Literature and art about violence

- Literature and art engaged in human rights defense

- Literature and art violating human rights

Please submit abstracts (no longer than 300 words) of your proposed 20-minute presentations, together with a short biographical note, by 15th October 2015 both to prof. Wojciech Owczarski, University of Gdańsk: